Borg Warner v-drive output shaft seal leaking

Was told that the seal leaks due to incorrect alignment of the shaft, causing side pressure on the seal. Has anyone run into this before??

If the seal failed due to side loading, the bearing failed first.

Agreed.

Is the boat in the water or on the hard? When did it start leaking?

boat is on the hard for the winter. started leaking mid summer last year. I have no vibration or noise. just the leak. want to make sure i get it fixed right the first try. you are saying the seal has failed due to the out put shaft bearing failing? would there not be some other sign of this?

Depends upon how the seal failed...

If the bearings wore out because of misalignment the seal won't work.

I've seen a few seals fail from corrosion...not common but possible....also seen them fail due to poor workmanship during rebuilds...

Irregardless, with a V-drive, you want to get it correct before you launch her...check locally and make sure you find a shop/mechanic with a stellar reputation...

As has been said, you can't side load a seal without a lot of slop being present in the bearing. Vibration from an misaligned shaft is kind of hard on seals, but you said you don't feel any vibration while underway. These seals do wear out. They are a simple pressed in oil seal, no big deal..... but you need to pull the tranny, and replace the reduction gear gaskets on the way by. Frankly, if you're going to do the rear seal, do the forward seal and all the gaskets too. You have it out anyway, and the basic gasket seal kit is cheap.

Hoping to get to uncover boat next weekend and start to disassemble for inspection. Plan is to disconnect shaft from coupling and slide it out of the road. Will check torque on coupling nut. Have seen in the automotive application the nut come lose and cause problems. Should be able to check for play in coupler at that time which should indicate wear in the bearing? Remove coupling and inspect for groves or burn marks. What are the chances of the coupling coming off with ease? 1987 searay. Looks like there is room to remove bearing cap to replace seal on the bench. If no signs of any other problems,reassemble with new seal,silicone on shaft before nut and check shaft alignment once boat is back in water. Any other advice would be good as I don't want to have to do this twice.

I am not really familiar with that new a borg, but the older paragon v drives used a pressed in seal, and a whittet-higgins nut on the end of the coupling, but there are various types of nuts. For the most part, these seals are oil seals and do not want any other contamination on the seal. nice clean shaft through the seal, with a little bit of the transmission fluid smeared on it during assembly.